Share this:

To some people outside the industry, working for a magazine might seem like a glamorous job characterized by invitations to the hottest events, loads of free stuff, and endless connections. While some of that might be true, what many don’t consider is that it also requires a lot of hard work, especially when you’re an editorial assistant.

With a hectic schedule, it’s understandable to make a couple of boo boos every now and then, but what matters is that you learn from them. From breakfast blunders to pull-out problems, this collection of embarrassing stories show that Hannah Montana was right: everybody makes mistakes, and everybody has those days.

One time, we had to go to National University for a shoot. We came from the office and I forgot the clothes — the pullouts. We were already there at NU so I had to go back. I was so sleepy because at that time we were closing the UAAP magazine at same time with the shoot. I think I haven’t slept for four days. I was bangag when I arrived at the office. I went straight into the room without noticing that there were people inside. There was a meeting with the clients, the advertisers, the ad-sales team, they were all in that room. I passed right in the middle of the projector to get the pullouts. I just noticed when I was on my way back. ­­ —Red Dimaandal, Chalk magazine

We were doing a feature for a restaurant. One the owners, a total tita of Manila, was helping with fixing the plates for the photographs. They decided to take a bit out the cake. Usually they give you the fork, but the owner instead took the fork and fed me in the middle of the restaurant. —Andre Orandain, Pepper.ph

Once at a shoot, a few of our contributors arrived at the location ahead of schedule — 30 minutes earlier than expected — and I was the only one from our team there. I was supposed to go out and get breakfast for everyone, but I got caught up in the pleasantries. I kept on telling myself that I would accommodate them first and wait for one of my teammates to arrive so I could go out to pick up the food without leaving them unattended. So I waited for a while, but apparently too long, because one of the contributors then came up to me and started asking where the food was, getting upset and raising her voice. So I just went out and got breakfast. It caused a bit of a scene and got us off on a bad foot (it lead to a few more minor disagreements throughout the shoot), and it could have been avoided entirely if I had prioritized food. Part of being an EA is attending to the crew and making sure everyone is okay — you might call it pagiging maasikaso — and feeding everyone is a big part of that. —Miguel Escobar, Esquire Philippines

Lea Salonga was our October cover last year. During the cover shoot, I was so sick and I was puking but I still went anyway because I was needed. Tuwing nagpapalit ng makeup si Leah, nandun ako sa corner telling myself to keep it together. Then Vince (creative director of Preview Magazine), he wandered into the room and he saw me na naka-crouch. Then he said really loud “Yana, anu nangyari sa’yo?” and because he did that, syempre medyo emotional ka na di ba? I started crying really hard. The commotion attracted people, attracted Lea, attracted the manager of Lea. Basically, there was a bunch of people surrounding me. I was crying because I was sick and it was embarrassing. Then they were like “O, what are you feeling? Why are you sick?” That just was one of them, that was really bad. —Yanna Lopez, Preview.ph

I don’t have an embarrassing moment, but I have a really funny moment. It’s not embarrassing, but it’s really interesting and weird. The weirdest thing I’ve ever had to do for my job was get a chicken from a chicken coop for a shoot. I had to hold a rooster. This was for Esquire. Jeron Teng and Kiefer Ravena dual cover. Both of them had to hold roosters ‘cause there was a shot where they were facing each other. Parang mag-aaway sila, to highlight the rivalry.But we shot them on different days [so] I had to get two roosters on two different days from a guy somewhere in Kamuning. As in, we had to rent a rooster. We called [the guy], and I went with the driver [to Kamuning]. It was a small community full of chickens. I had to choose a rooster and I had to carry it to the shoot. —Alyana Cabral, CNN Philippines Life